And all along it was the Utah Jazz’s nastiness, or lack thereof, that was up for debate.

While the rest of the NBA was buzzing about whether the Jazz could still pass the 2 Live Crew test – as nasty as coach Jerry Sloan wants them to be? – the Lakers were busy channeling their inner Matt Harpring for the UFC match that became the end of Game 2 of their best-of-7 Western Conference playoff series at Staples Center.

Who knew the Lakers had it in them?

There was the slender Spaniard Pau Gasol swatting away two straight shots on a crucial fourth-quarter possession, Trevor Ariza snarling and thumping his chest down the court after hitting a clutch 3-pointer to seal the 119-109 win, Shannon Brown bouncing off the turf after a hard foul, and Lamar Odom unapologetically slamming Jazz guard Ronnie Brewer to the ground as he tried to convert an easy layup that would’ve cut the Lakers lead to five points with less than a minute to go.

Brewer converted his two free throws, but the message had been delivered … with a thump.

Remember that “finesse” team the Celtics beat up in the NBA Finals last season? Well, this time the Lakers just might have an answer.

“We’re still a finesse team, when you think about it,” Odom said. “We pass the ball well, we move. We’re not going to run you over, we’d rather go around you. But there’s a point in game where they’re going to make contact with you …. and we can (hang). That’s what the weight room is for, right?”

Nasty, when they need to be.

At some point in Tuesday’s game, the Jazz seemed to realize that outside of Deron Williams, it couldn’t compete with the Lakers in a pure talent competition.

The Lakers were too long, too deep, too skilled. Too good.

So Utah fell back on what most teams do when faced with a talent gap to overcome: It threw an elbow right to the chops. Repeatedly.

Jarron Collins upended Brown on a drive to the basket. Brewer crashed into Derek Fisher chasing a loose ball. Three guys clobbered Kobe Bryant on a third-quarter drive.

Despite Sloan’s put-downs through the media, it has taken a couple of games for the Jazz to accept the fact that it might have to land a few blows in order to win this series because it’s still relatively new to them.

Contrary to its rugged image, which took years of Jeff Hornacek’s hip checks and Karl Malone’s beefy elbows to establish, this year’s Jazz has gotten by on its talent and offensive ability. With the sublimely talented Williams at point guard, the Jazz didn’t need to play rough in order to win.

Grudgingly, Sloan had to accept the change in the team’s character.

“We can’t make them something they aren’t,” he said.

The Jazz were seventh in the league in offense (103.6 points per game), but just 17th in defense (100.9 ppg).

No one noticed because, in no particular order: the Jazz rarely plays on national TV; it’s Utah; and everyone was hurt all season so it was easy to forgive the team’s shortcomings.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who had to play Utah three times in the regular season, and scout the team for this series, even admitted the Jazz’s muscular style of play isn’t what it used to be.

“Well, I think the guy that carries that with them still is Harpring,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson noted before the game. “He’s the player that kind of has the feel like the Jazz of the ’90s.

“This other group is not quite the same. … I don’t think this team is, in any sense of the imagination, (like) the Karl Malone (teams), where Karl would elbow people and make his presence felt inside. It literally was a physical threat when you were inside the lane.”

In the past, Utah tried to draft and sign players for whom that style of play comes naturally. Guys like Harpring, who comes from a line of Ohio football players. Whose grandfather was named Norb and played for Army. That’s right, Norb. How can you not be tough with those genes?

But in today’s NBA, you don’t always have that luxury. For every Harpring you find, there’s an Andrei Kirilenko, the Jazz’s highest-paid player and best shot-blocker, who was once caught crying after a playoff loss in Houston.

Not exactly right out of the Ford truck commercial.

Power forward Carlos Boozer used to be known as a tough guy, but his reputation started going downhill during last year’s playoff series when he seemed distracted, and only got worse this season when it has appeared he had one foot out the door, on his way out of Salt Lake City as soon as he becomes a free agent.

Tuesday, Boozer growled a few times after grabbing a tough rebound, but it was not nearly loud enough to scare off the Lakers.

And from the sound of the Lakers’ leader after the game, neither will the noise in the Jazz’s home arena later this week.

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